Wheelbarrow handle



H. M, CASWELL.

WHEELBARROW HANDLE APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9, 1921.

1,427,720, Patented Aug. 29, 1922.

WTTORNEYIS' PATENT HERBERT IVL CASWELL, 0F OATIIIAN, ARIZONA.

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T 0 all 107mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT M. CAswnLL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oatman, in the county of Mohave and State of Arizona, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Wheelbarrow Handles, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to an attachment for wheel barrow handles, and isan improvement over my Patent No. 1,392,114,

issued September 27, 1921.

It is the principal object of the present invention to generally improveupon the construction of the devices shown in my patent aforesaid so asto materially increase the efficiency thereof.

NVith the foregoing andother objects in View, my invention consists incertain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts thatwill be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the method of gripping the wheelbarrow handles constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged outside elevation of a handle gripped by a hand;

Figure 3 is a similar inside elevational View;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective of a wheel barrow handle with theattachment mounted thereon.

In wheeling a heavily loaded barrow, the strain is mostly directed tothe grip of the hands, and consequently these parts become tired andexhausted first. In fact, the load is actually carried besides beingshoved forward, and as a result, the pull on the fingers is increased soas to loosen the grip. The grip or efiiciency may be summed up as weightof load plus force of resistance in shoving the barrow forward and incarrying the load forward. and especially on an incline as shown inFigure 1, nearly all of the energy is concentrated on the grip, andparticularly on the first and second joints of the first finger of eachhand, as it is there where most of the gripping action occurs.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings, an abutment element- 2is either forged or adjustably secured on the handle 1 of a barrow 3.The element 2 is in the nature of a sleeve that has its corners roundedto present no sharp surfaces. It will be understood that a sleeve isemployed on each handle,

Specifieationof Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 29, 1922- .Applicationfiled November 9, 1921. Serial No. 513,959.

and each of the sleeves, on its under face,

has a transverse concavity 4 at its rear edge. The inner wall of theconcavity as well as the side walls thereof are rounded, as at 5.

The depression or concavity extends approximately one-third of the wayaround the element, so that in pushing the barrow the element willprevent the hands slipping forward, and the concavity will cause thepressure to be distributed against the fingers the barrow the grip willnot be loosened as the push is all exerted by the portion of the thumbfrom the first joint to its base and by the portion of the fingers fromthe knuckles to the joints next to the knuckles. Consequently theportion of the thumb from the first joint to the end of the thumb andthe portions of the fingers from the second joints to the finger tipsare employed for no other purpose than to grip the handles. It will beunderstood that it is due to the provision of the concavity in theabutment element that the gripping portions of the thumb and fingers donot impinge against the abutment element. As a result, these grippingportions of the thumb and fingers may exercise a firmgrip upon thehandle without becoming exhausted.

\Vhen a' loaded barrow is being pushed,

the operator tends to lean forward which will throw his arm and handforwardly as is shown in Figures 2 and 3, and such a position, it isevident, will throw the knuckles of the thumb and index finger beyondthe remaining joints of the hand, and the specific improvement in thisinvention is to provide suitable recesses or concavities in the upperportion of the rear edge of the element so that the knuckles of thethumb and index finger will not have excessive localized pressure on thesame.

To accomplish this result, a concavity 6 is formed on the upper outsideportion of the rear edge so as to receive the knuckle of the indexfinger, as is clearly shown in Figure 2. A similar concavity 7 is formedon the upper portion of the inner side of the rear edge to receive theknuckle of the thumb as is clearly shown in Figure 3.

It will be noted that the concavity 7 is of somewhat greater depth thanthe concavity 6, because it is found that in practice the knuckle of thethumb projects forwardly more than the index knuckle; therefore, theconcavities 6 and 7 are made or formed accordingly.

To make the upper portion ofthe element have practically the samecontour as that of the hand which engages the element, the portion 8intermediate to concavities 6 and '1" is left protruding reai'wardly soas to fill the space between the knuckles of the thumb and index finger.I It is thus seen that by such a construction the hand will bear evenlyover the entire upper surface of the element and will not cause excesspressure on any portion of the same.

Theabutment element is placed forwardly of the rear end of the handlesto permit the hands to grasp the handles, and can be heldthereto as byset screw 9. The abutment maybe forged upon the barrow handles 0radjustahly secured thereto by the set screw 9.

The handle of an ordinary wheelbarrow is at least an inch and a qua rterin diameter, ,OlltSldG measurement, and my mproved abutment properlypositioned on the handle is of material assistance in the pushing of awheelbarrow and particularly when the same is heavily loaded or beingpushed up an incline.

Various changes may be made inthe details of construction by thoseskilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the inventionas set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wheelbarrow having abutment elements on the handles thereof, saidabutment elements having concavities in the rear edges of said elementsat the bases and upper portions of the same.

A wheelbarrow having abutment elements on the handles thereof, saidelements having in the upper portion of their rear edges concavitieseach side of the vertical center line toreceive the knuckle portions ofthe thumb and index finger.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

HERBERT M. CASWELL.

